THE GREY CONTEST.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17319, 20 May 1918, Page 6

THE GREY CONTEST.

f | TO T3K EDITOH. ? Sir,—The leader you published in vour j issue of the 16th inst. makes four points— W lhat the grounds of appeal from mihtary service made on behalf of P. C. Webb, MP. were dishonest, in that it was urged that Mr Webb, as a practical ; ' niner \. was indispensable as the representa- . "Ye of a mining district, whereas this conl w wS „ ~" ow , chosen a candidate, Mr Holland, who lias no mining experi- . onco - (2) 111 at. M r Holland is disloyal be- « cause of his consistent opposition to mili- . tarism m all its phases. (3) That Mr Holland does not give credit to the Governi ment for what it has done in enabling the < dominion to assist militarily in winning tho i war. (4) lhat it is essential to the existence of tho Empire that the present Go- ' vernment be not disturbed. . The obvious general purpose of the article as a whole is to prejudice the public mind and prevent ; the exposure of the truth of the situation created by the National Government and i the hollowness of the so-called patriotic ' P beluucl which it hides its face. 1 w,tt ? rc £fard to the first point, the grounds of Mr Webb's appeal, your logic on tho subject is a typical example of 3 T our usual method when dealing with any matter of interest to the Labour movement -because the miners chose" a non-Dractical , r " a ". , nl this contest the grounds of Mr Webbe appeal were dishonest. The exhibition of legal trickery of the Government in its anxiety to disfranchise a section of most intlligent opponents is in itself sufficient justification for them choosing on this occasion a man against whom tho power of military tribunals cannot be employed, and they are justified in believing that tnere is no law on the Statute Book that will not be prostituted to insure the Government's continued existence. Witness the extraordinary position of a Government, self-elected in defiance of tho wish of threequarters of the population, deciding that Mr Y\ ebb, duly elected in a constitutional manner, shall be jockeyel out of his position and the machinery of tho Military Service Act strained to that end. Respecting the third point as to what the Government has done to win the wax. Let us examine brieflv the policy of tho Government in relation to its cftcctivo value to 'the Imperial authorities in carrying the burden of war. The very essence of sound war policy is sound finance. Given an unsound, inequitable method of finance, then the military effort of man power of this country at the battle front is more than nullified by the inevitable economic mess, both local and international, which follows. Is there any self-appointed politician who could at the present moment be persuaded to come bofore liis constituents and expound the virtue of the National Government's financial policy? They know that to do so would be to fly in the faco of all the competent authorities on tho matter, to court political extinction, and to morit the ridicule of every - shade of political opinion in the country. The free-of-tax loan, as against the taxation method, has brought in its train—(l) Fictitious values oil the looal market, decreasing tho purchasing- power of tho sovereign to 12s. (2) Tho necessity to exploit the British publio in food commodities, hence the excursion of Mr Massey and Sir J. G. Ward to London a year ago, and their exultant boast on tho floor of the House when they returned that they had succeeded to the extent of four millions extra profit. The exigency of war necessitated moro money; these profits, together with previous profits, were" absorbed by free-of-tax loans. (3) The annual burden of interest, together with the cost of Government, now requires a revenue of 17 millions, involving an increase in. exports with which to finance the country. (4) Increased exports involve the use of a largo amount of tonnage, and the worrying of tho Imperial authorities to provide it; as witness the correspondence between tho Prime Minister and the Shipping Controller on the subject, and published on his return to tho dominion. (5) Notwithstanding tho extremities of the Imperial authorities as to shipping, now admitted and mirrored in the food queues, arid notwithstanding the fact that a ship trading between American ports and Britain is five times as valuable from a military point of view as if it were* trading from Now Zealand, tho National Govern- i ment is " doing its bit" to win the war—to which " nothing else matters " —insists upon loading down the Imperial authorities with the responsibility of providing: shipping which cannot be spared in order to bolster the unsound financial position of this country, directly and absolutely due to the ineptitude and mediocrity with which the policy of the dominion was framed in tho first place. (6) In consequence ot the economic mess to which the dominion is now committed every attack on the British lines by the Germans is exploited to justify the demand upon the Imperial authority for shipping, ostensibly to carry reinforcements, but in reality to transport producc to market, and save tho country from financial embarrassment. F lo smother up this naked fact, rolls of newspaper are printed, filled with patriotic phrases, parroted by all and sundry. In contra-distinction to your fourth point, and in view of the above consideration, I submit that it is "up to" the Second Division and general public if they desire to bo loyal to the Empire ,to drop its assurance of loyalty to the Govern- j nioiit as a means of assisting to win the war, and a real understanding of tho ■ position. The first and most patriotio action to take in assisting the Imperial authorities is to smash tho National Government from office. With regard to Mr Holland's policy and to the question of his loyalty as interpreted by tiie public press, it is as grotesque as it ! is unfair and untruthful, and I have no ' hesitation at all in asserting that, had the ' party for which ho stands had tho framing of the country's policy in 1914, the people would bo much happier to-dny and the future safe from the disaster that will ' surely overtake it. 'The question "What " is the Government doing at the present ' moment to win the war?" is a vital ques- ! tion and ought to claim immediate attention 1 in the light of ;lio naked facts, and no ' amount of lip service, denunciation of Ger- '■ mans, and mouthing of patriotic platitudes 1 will help the country out of the mess in ' w hic.li it finds itselfbut on the contrary * those are tlie weapons of defence for the Government's unjustifiable existence. Imagine this Government of mediocrities being entrusted with organising national eer° c vice.—l am, etc., 1 50 Hanover street. J. D. Smith. 1 [Our correspondent's long diatribe is i founded on a series of assumptions ,not { o)io of which is 'well-founded.—Et>. O.D.T.] J